Over the Holidays another Beogram 4002 (5513) arrived for some TLC. Today I did a first evaluation. The packing job was excellent and featured some new ideas how to safely package a Beogram. Here are some impressions:
The hood was filled with soft foam blocks to hold the sub platter and the RPM panel down:
One of the foam blocks contained the MMC20E cartridge, which traveled well:
Here an impression after taking it out:
I appreciated the precisely cut cardboard that held the sub-platter in place. The arm support also worked very well:
I took the hood off and the back part of the enclosure to give the inside an examination. It all looked original and pretty clean. Then I plugged the unit in and pressed start. The carriage started moving, but at the 30cm set-down point it lowered the arm, but then kept going at a rapid pace. An examination of the tracking system revealed a bent tracking sensor aperture which is stuck in the bulb housing.
So that definitely needs rebuilding. Also the arm linkages are somewhat hard to move due to the usual hardened lubricants. Nothing that a good cleaning and re-lubricating could not fix.
I also noticed that the motor runs pretty rough, so it also needs to be taken apart and cleaned and it needs to get some fresh lubricant injected into its sleeve bearings.
Other than that, as far as I can tell right now this unit is in pretty good condition mechanically.
Cosmetically, the plinth is in great condition, the aluminum panels could do with a deep clean and the keypad has the usual three-finger usage pattern, but not too bad.
The hood, as usual, could do with some polishing.
All in all no obvious show-stoppers. It seems this unit is a great starting point for a restoration. This Beogram has an excellent potential to be as good as new once I am done with it.
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